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KU FEWLS research receives NSF Collaborative Research grant!

Updated: Aug 22


FEWLS is delighted to announce that a Collaborative Research Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) has been awarded to Dr. Ana Morais (PI) and Dr. Haiying Long (Co-PI) from the University of Kansas (KU).


The awarded project named "Understanding the roles of CO2-tunable media on the hydrothermal deconstruction of poly(ethylene) terephthalate" expands on our prior research demonstrating the effectiveness of CO2-H2O systems in facilitating the breakdown of poly(ethylene) terephthalate (PET) plastic into terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol. That work was recently featured in a publication in RSC Green Chemistry.


The awarded project represents a joint effort between KU and a team of researchers from Northwestern University, including Dr. Linda Broadbelt and Dr. Sri Bala Gorugantu (click here for details), and from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The two primary aims of this project are (1) to elucidate the impact of CO2 on PET polymer morphology, phase behavior, and reagent transport during acid-catalyzed hydrolysis, and (2) to mechanistically understand the deconstruction of semi-crystalline PET in CO2-tunable media. This work will put forward a state-of-the-art methodology blueprint, which can be adapted to expand multi-scale mechanistic studies to other chemical recycling strategies for post-consumer plastics!


The total award amount for this project is $550,000 and KU will receive $300,000 over a period of 3 years, starting on October 1, 2024.


FEWLS Team

 

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